<itemprop=”name”>Archival Quality</itemprop=”name”>
by Ivy Noelle Weir, Illustrated by Steenz
Oni Press,2018
280 Pages
Middle Grade (13 and up)
I’ve known since Courtney Crumrin series that Oni Press can be counted on for quality stories. Among a new wave of 9×6″ graphic novels for tween girls cascading into a bookstore near you, sparked by Raina Telgemeier’s Smile and Sisters, appeared a ghost story with a skull on the cover titled Archival Quality.
Recalling the horrors of House on Haunted Hill (the 1999 remake,) and Dan Poblocki’s more age-appropriate The Ghost of Greylock, a young woman wrestling with depression takes on a job as an archivist at a museum that was once a mental ward. Yes, an asylum where experiments were committed and lost people were forgotten; back in the days when medical knowledge was primitive and that sort of thing could happen. (Because in today’s day and age, horrible things never frequently happen to people who are institutionalized.)
Now, I must interject– as someone who has worked as an archivist and museum collection manager, I can tell you this is all utter nonsense that someone could get a position like the one at The Logan Museum without a degree. In academia, you are constantly under scrutinizing judgement, even if the Head Curator has a thing for you. (Did that sound bitter? Sorry.) Anyway…
Things start to happen. Celeste (Cel) “loses time.” She finds things missing then left for her as gifts (like a tooth stolen from a skull,) and boxes are haphazardly found thrown to the floor like a poltergeist has been at work. Plus there are the dreams. Vivid visions of a woman who died there at the medical museum, a patient with a half-blackened eyeball.
Cel’s boss, Abayomi Abiola, who took his position after the last Head Curator disappeared, begins asking questions about the vandalism. He blames Cel. But with assistance from librarian Holly Park, Cel perseveres, and Abayomi opens up about what he knows regarding the haunting.
Be gone. I have to librarian.
Abayomi has felt increasing pressure from the Museum Board, under threat that he, too, might be “disappeared.” The Board’s meeting room is always locked, forbidden. But the nightmare visions are getting stronger. Pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place as the ghost of a woman who died there reaches out to Cel because she feels a kinship. The patient who died also suffered from depression, but was forced into a cure she could not escape.
Luckily, Holly’s partner is the daughter of a Board member and is able to snag the key. But when they open the Board Room, a maelstrom of pent up energy from those who have died in the museum is unleashed!Archival Quality grabbed me because of the title. Totally acid-free. (Shhh… don’t tell. I was turned on to this book by a review over at Monster Librarian.) The story is a suspenseful, fun ride. The artwork is gentle and emotive. It’s not too scary, and is suitable for tween audiences, though there is a lot of relationship stuff (yuck!) with an overly-concerned hipster boyfriend. I really like the kung-fu pose of Holly that Steenz shows us in the appendix. If you’ve ever wanted to solve a mystery in a haunted museum, (or you’ve ever been a frustrated assistant curator,) get this book! It’s a blast!
